


The Best Policy

by smugheadjonesthethird



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: 7 Minutes by Dean Lewis, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Flashbacks, Inspired by Music, Mention of Assault, Open to Interpretation, a fic in which Jughead is an idiot and makes idiot decisions without consulting his lady, light fluff, or possible happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 07:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19389475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smugheadjonesthethird/pseuds/smugheadjonesthethird
Summary: Jughead Jones' like has been plagued with misfortune. Just when he thinks he's finally escaped it and built a life with his girlfriend--the love of his life--the past finds its way back to him, leaving him to make the ultimate sacrifice.





	The Best Policy

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. Hello. Welcome to this angst-shot that no one asked me for. I was inspired (as you can see in the tags) by the song 7 Minutes by Dean Lewis. I recommend giving that a listen (but also cause its a really good song).
> 
> Huge thank you to my rockstar betas: Em (miss-eee) and Fonsie (strangenightsofdaydreams). You two are wonderful human beings and I am grateful to you both. 
> 
> Also, big shout out to Summer (srainebuggie/summerraine14) for being a sounding board when I was starting this. I appreciate you, love! <3 <3

Jughead Jones dropped her off at their apartment under the guise of finding a decent parking space for when they left for work in the morning. He knew he was lying to her, to himself, but he didn’t see any other way.

“Don’t take too long, my love,” Betty whispered sweetly to him before she got out of the car.

“I’ll be back soon,” he lied.

He wouldn’t be back. Not soon, not ever, if he was sure how things were going to play out. He had hidden a very large part of himself from Betty. If he was being honest with himself, he was running away from it too. His past though, was quickly catching up with him. 

He’d been running from himself and Riverdale, New York - where he was supposed to be awaiting trial for crimes he helped facilitate during his time as the leader of their notorious gang, the Southside Serpents. He wasn’t proud of that part of himself, and that’s why he hid it. 

When Elizabeth Cooper came into his life, she was a breath of fresh air, everything he never knew he wanted out of life. She was everything good he knew he didn’t deserve; the proverbial bright spot in his perpetual darkness. When he’d left Riverdale for college, he was sure he’d end up back there, back in the gang, but meeting Betty changed the trajectory of his life for the better.

\---

_ Jughead wasn’t sure how, but his classmate, Nate, had convinced him to go out to a local bar after class. Nate tried everything from ‘you can meet girls there’ to ‘Jesus Jones, just fucking meet us there, you recluse bastard.’ It was the latter that got him there.  _

_ He was never interested in having a girlfriend. He was busy in his younger years being groomed to be the perfect predecessor to his father. Even when he stepped down, handing over the reins to his longtime best friend, Sweet Pea, he didn’t care too much for the attention of girls--not that he didn’t get it. He did and he was never sure why. _

_ He was always sarcastic--bordering on rude--and he had an eternal affinity for being the smartest person in the room; which, if he was being honest, wasn’t all that hard for him. It seemed that all changed when she stepped into the bar. _

_ His eyes were drawn to the soft waves of blonde that hit just below her shoulders. Her sweater was pastel and her jeans fit her perfectly. Then she turned around and smiled and that was what did him in. It was bright and infectious and he wanted to know what her laugh sounded like up close. She was the most beautiful woman Jughead had ever seen. _

_ Nate elbowed his side and Jughead nearly dropped the beer he was nursing. He shot his friend a look. “What?” _

_ “Take a picture it will last longer. If you keep staring at her, she’s bound to notice.” Jughead turned to look at his friend and just when he went to admire her again, she was gone. He rolled his eyes and turned around, finishing his beer rather quickly and signaling the bartender for another. _

_ “May I have a sloe gin fizz, please?” a sweet, nearly angelic voice asked the bartender as he dropped off Jughead’s beer. His head perked up instinctually and he slowly turned toward the voice. _

_ It was her. _

_ To his surprise, she was looking back at him with that same bright smile on her face. _

_ “Have you met my friend, Jughead,” Nate says, placing a hand at the girl’s back before promptly walking away. He watches as Nate gives him a thumbs up and then turns away. _

_ He could hear her giggle. “Did he really just try something from  _ How I Met Your Mother? _ Your friend needs better wingman moves,” she says still giggling. _

_ “You’re not wrong,” Jughead laughed. “But it seems to have worked, I’m Jughead.” _

_ “Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Betty.” He can see the slight blush on her cheeks, but he doesn’t know if it’s because of him or just a product of the increasing heat in the bar. _

_ “Well, Betty. Let me buy you that drink.” _

_ \--- _

That upward trajectory lasted until he got a phone call from Sheriff Thomas Keller saying he was needed back in Riverdale as the main suspect in a series of crimes committed years prior. The same call revealed that there was enough evidence to convict him and place him in prison for possibly the rest of his life.

He’d lied to Betty, spending the last six months claiming he had to go away for work a few weekends a month, while he was trying to secure a lawyer and handle this without her knowing. It had worked up until that point; she had no idea of anything. When she asked how his conferences were, he lied and said they were productive and things were moving along nicely, but his life at that point was anything but nice.

What he was doing was selfish and he knew that, but he couldn’t let Betty be exposed to the horrors of his past, even if she had accepted him with everything she had. They were kindred spirits in a way. They shared some similar traumas, but she was able to escape hers where he couldn’t.

He drove past the place where they’d met, had their first kiss, and their first date and his heart clenched in his chest. He was going to miss her, but at least he’d have her memory to get him through whatever was going to happen next, whatever his dim future would hold. It was too late now, but he wished he’d have told her. Maybe things would be different if he had.

\---

_ He didn’t kiss her the first night they met. He waited like he supposed a gentleman would. Or maybe because he was scared. Betty was turning out to be something really special, and he didn’t want to mess things up. After they met, they seemed to run into each other on campus frequently. He’d asked her for coffee and she offered to edit his papers.  _

_ He was so terribly nervous to mess things up. He’d asked her to dinner, nothing fancy, but he knew of a hole-in-the-wall diner that he frequented and it was just as good as home, but it would be better because she’d be with him. _

_ They sat on the same side of the booth, his arm slung behind her. She’d make excuses to touch him, his fingertips teased at her shoulder.  _

_ “Hey, Jug? Can I try your milkshake?” Betty asked him as their date was winding down. _

_ “Sure. You don’t need to ask,” he laughed, pushing the glass closer to her. _

_ Instead of taking the glass, she turned to face him and planted her lips on his, her hand at his chest. His arm came around her shoulder and held her close as they kissed again. _

_ “That’s pretty good,” she said with pink painted high on her cheekbones, “I might have to get that flavor next time.” _

He was halfway out of the city when she tried to call the first time. He looked down at his phone to see a picture of her that he’d snapped one morning early in their relationship. Her hair was tousled and her face was still clouded by sleep, but she was more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen. He sighed heavily and clicked off the screen, sending her to voicemail. A stream of texts came next.

_ Betty: Parking that hard to find? _

_ Betty: Juggie? _

_ Betty: Baby, where are you? _

His heart hammered in his chest and he ignored them all. He didn’t even open the thread to show her that he’d seen them. It was better this way, he told himself. She was better off.

Eventually, he shut his phone off altogether and as he crossed the city limits of Riverdale, the feeling of dread began to sink in. 

\--

He pulled into the parking lot of a motel nearby, not wanting to alert anyone of his presence back in his hometown. He didn’t bother to bring much with him, just a small duffle with things he’d need for the few days before his inevitable prison sentence. He tried to shower the guilt off of him, but it only seemed to make it worse. He lay in bed, unable to sleep without Betty next to him, so he scrolled through his phone reliving snapshots of memories saved within. He fell asleep, tears in his eyes and his phone next to his pillow, a picture of her front and center for when he woke up.

He met with Attorney McCoy early the next morning. Evidently, there was a new offer on the table. If he agreed to testify against his former-peers, his sentence would be drastically reduced. He debated it. He knew the Serpents were about loyalty, but his only loyalty now was to his girl, who he’d left without so much as a goodbye. Betty would figure it out eventually, investigate as she was prone to, discover what he hid and where he was placed.

“Testify against Mustang, Tall Boy and Hog Eye. In exchange you’ll plead guilty to a lesser charge and only do two years instead of the state-mandated twenty. The District Attorneys don’t hand out deals like this ever. You’d be an idiot not to take it.”

He never did care for the older Serpents of his younger days. It wasn’t too much of a decision for him to testify against them, considering his other options. So he did.

When he was cross-examined, he was asked about his involvement with the Serpents and he explained his father was once their leader, but when he fell ill, he took over. He tried to turn them around, but the old regime was deadset to see him fail, so they continued to sell drugs and guns and even joined forces with their rival gang at one point, despite Jughead’s pleas to keep them straight.

He explained that at that point, he was leaving for college and wanted to wash his hands of all of it. Jughead told them how he’d changed his life around, graduated college and was on track to publish his novel and settle into his life with his girlfriend.

His girlfriend. Could he even still call her that? He’d been gone less than 24 hours, but he knew he wouldn’t see her for at least another year and a half if he was lucky. He didn’t expect that she’d be there waiting for him when he got back, but part of him, a very small part of him, hoped she might.

He gave his sworn testimony to the Judge, and in return, as promised, he was sentenced to two years in Shankshaw State Prison and was immediately taken into custody. He had no one there to search for in the courtroom as he was taken to a holding cell, awaiting an officer to transport him to his new home. He shut his eyes and saw flashes of blonde and green. Her smile, even in memory, made his heart ache. He had no idea how he was going to make it out of these two years whole without her reassuring touches and soft voice of encouragement.

\--

He’d ended up serving his full two years. He could have gotten out a little sooner, but his first few months were filled with assault from both the Ghoulies and other Serpents who had heard what happened at his trial and called him a rat. 

He spent the first six months in and out of the medical wing. He wrote more often than he didn’t. He had no visitors, he didn’t want them, the only person he wanted to see he knew would never show. By month ten, the guard told him there was someone there to see him, but he refused to move until visitation hours were over.

“Who was it?” He asked when he was sure whoever it was would be gone.

“Young woman. Blonde. Had a few books with her. I didn’t catch her name,” the guard told him.

_ Betty _ , he thought and his heart broke all over again. She’d found him, just like he knew she would. Her brilliance never ceased to amaze him. 

By the fourth time he refused to see the mysterious blonde woman, the guard stopped asking. A few weeks later, he slipped a sheet of paper into Jughead’s meal slot. He knows the guard isn’t supposed to do things like that, but they’d struck up a rapport of sorts.

_ I don’t know why you lied. Or why you’re hiding. You could have told me and I would have understood. But I guess you never really knew or loved me at all if you thought I would run. I’ll stop coming to visit you, clearly, you don’t want to see me. Goodbye, Jughead. _

He was ashamed of himself, mostly. Anger, disappointment, but shame was the most prevalent emotion. He let her believe he never loved her. All he ever had done was love her. From the moment they met, he knew that she was something special and he intentionally let her go. 

“You’re a fucking idiot,” he said to himself and he could hear the guard laughing at his pain as he walked away.

He wanted to write her letters, and eventually, he did but he never had the courage to send them. He was sure she was still in their apartment, they’d signed a lease. Maybe she’d gotten a roommate, or a new boyfriend to move in, but he shook that thought from his head.

He had one month to go. One more month of watching his back and writing his feelings late into the night. It was torture counting down the days until he was released, but what proved worse was the reality that he had nothing left for him when he got out.

He had no one to pick him up. No one to go home to. No one at all. But he’d done it to himself and he had no one to blame.

\--

It’s a beautiful May day when he is finally free again and he isn’t sure what to do without parameters or schedules now. Transport brings him back to Riverdale and drops him at the police station. It doesn’t look any different.

The first thing he does is pick up his car from the impound lot. Luckily, they hadn’t auctioned it off yet. He gets in, takes a deep breath and looks around. He freezes spotting Betty’s favorite sweatshirt still sitting in the backseat where she’d left it just before he ran away. He knew it wouldn’t still smell like her, but he grabs it and tries anyway. It doesn’t smell like anything, her floral scent long gone and that deeply saddens him.

He heads to his old trailer, the one he kept in his name after his father passed away just in case he ever needed it. Surprisingly, the water is still on and all of his things are where he left them. He takes a hot shower with real soap and shampoo and he feels like a new person. 

He finds his old clothes in the closet and pulls on a pair of jeans and an old faded  _ S _ shirt that are now too big for him. He didn’t think he’d lost that much weight, but what he then realized it was just redistributed to muscle. 

He packs the duffle bag he found in the closet with clothing and other supplies and left the trailer as quickly as he’d come, thanking whatever god that he hadn’t been spotted by anyone and vowing never to return to the place that had raised him but taken everything from him.

Back into the city, he drives past all their familiar places. He’s happy to see his favorite bar is still standing, the one he’d met Betty in. The movie theater they had their first official date at--once he’d bossed up and asked her to be his girlfriend--, but never actually made it inside because they were so focused on their conversation they’d forgotten the time and went to get Chinese food instead. He can see it all playing out as he drives - this life he once had with her. He can see the ghost of her and him holding hands walking home from their nightly walks.

\--

_ “You’ve never seen  _ Rebel Without a Cause _?” Jughead asked her in mock horror. “That’s it. I’m taking you downtown to the old theater.” _

_ “Is that really how you’re going to ask me on our first official date?” _

_ “We’ve had plenty of dates, Betty.” _

_ She gave him a pointed look and he knows that this is important to her. _

_ “Elizabeth Cooper. Will you do the great honor of joining me at the Picture Show tomorrow evening?” He said in a voice you’d hear in the old classics and it made her laugh. _

_ “It would be my pleasure,” she says curtseying.  _

_ He grabbed her hand and they continued to talk down the sidewalk in their own bubble of happiness. _

_ They never actually made it in to see the movie. They got so caught up in conversation that they lost track of time and by the time they realized, the movie was over. _

_ “So much for that,” Jughead laughed. “Chinese on my living room floor instead?” _

_ “Sounds perfect.” _

_ They ordered take out and went back to Jughead’s apartment where they ate and continued their talk. She ended up staying over that night, not that he expected her to. They’d fallen asleep on the couch and when they woke up, she kissed him soundly. _

_ “I never knew sleeping on a couch would be so comfortable,” Betty yawned. _

_ “Yeah, neither did I.” He wanted to add that he spent a few years sleeping on couches, but he doesn’t. _

_ He kisses her again for good measure before pulling her further into him and falling back asleep. _

_ \-- _

He drives around some more, trying to figure out a game plan, but he doesn’t have one. He has nowhere to live, nowhere to call home, and the only real place that has ever been his home was gone because he forgot to respect and love her enough to be honest and tell her the whole truth about him.

He drove passed their shared apartment and sees her car parked right outside. His heart is beating wildly against his chest and he wants to throw his car in park and rush upstairs, but he doesn’t. Instead, he drove a few more blocks down the road, parks on a nearly empty side street and walks. 

He walked until the sun went down and his stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten anything all day. He stopped into a nearby pizza shop and grabbed a slice. He threw out his grease-splattered plate when he saw a familiar splash of blonde out of his peripheral vision. He stopped dead in his tracks and it took him a minute to fully realize what could be happening.

He runs a hand through his hair and walks out the door, looking both ways before spotting her signature blonde tresses again. 

It was her. 

Her blonde hair falls down in soft waves, kissing the tops of her bare shoulders. Her patchwork maxi dress ripples with the wind. He can hear her laugh from where he stands and he wants to cry. It is the most beautiful sound he’s heard in years and it kills him that he’d nearly forgotten anything that belonged to her.

He wants to run to her, scoop her up and twirl her around. Hold her close as he tells her how much he’s missed her and how much of an idiot he is for being so careless with her heart. But his feet are rooted in their spot. In his mind, he’s moving, but in reality, he watches her continue to walk with Veronica down the sidewalk. Wishing for her to turn around, to feel his eyes on her. 

And she does.

She stops dead in her tracks and pulls Veronica with her. Her eyes are wide and even from far away, he knows her facial expressions well enough to recognize her shock. It looks like she wants to cry, and he understands because he does too.

His feet finally move and they bring him closer to her. He can see Betty tell Veronica something and the brunette walks away slowly. He stops a few feet away from her and he waits. He knows she probably has a lot to say, but he’s sure that she’s moved on with her life in the last two years.

She doesn’t say anything. She just stares at him in bewilderment. Jughead watches as her eyes narrow and she takes a step closer. He stays put. 

“You are a sight for sore eyes.”

-fin

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you thought of this. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks for stopping by and keep an eye out for more things coming in the not too distant future!
> 
> find me on tumblr: shrugheadjonesthethird :) <3 <3 <3


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